Jonathan Hawkins (born 1 May 1983) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

grandmaster. He was the British Chess Champion in 2015, having outscored David Howell, with whom he shared the title in 2014.

Chess career

Hawkins's chess career is unusual for the modern era in that he showed only modest ability as a child; his improvement from club player to

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

took place after he left full-time education, and while living in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, far from traditional centres of chess activity. About this sudden rise through the rankings, in his 2012

endgame Endgame, Endgames, End Game, End Games, or similar variations may refer to: Film * ''The End of the Game'' (1919 film) * ''The End of the Game'' (1975 film), short documentary U.S. film * ''Endgame'' (1983 film), 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic f ...

book ''Amateur to IM'', he notes that "a careful study of the endgame sparked the biggest leap forward in my own game". As well as his double British championship titles, tournament wins by Hawkins include the British Rapidplay Chess Championships in 2012 and 2014, making him the British champion at both standard and rapid time limits. In 2013 he tied for first place in the 18th

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Open with Stanislav Novikov, Batuhan Dastan,

Hagen Poetsch Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...

Alexey Kim Alexey Eduardovich Kim (born April 5, 1986) is a Soviet-born South Korean chess player. He is the only South Korean to hold the FIDE title of Grandmaster. Biography A third-generation ethnic Korean, Kim was born on April 5, 1986, in Tashkent, Uz ...

Ralf Åkesson Ralf Åkesson (born 8 February 1961) is a Swedish chess player. He was awarded by FIDE the titles of International Master (IM) in 1981 and Grandmaster (GM) in 1995, and by ICCF the title of Senior International Correspondence Master (SIM) in 20 ...

and Kacper Drozdowski. Hawkins was part of the English contingent at the rapidplay tournament of the 2014

London Chess Classic The London Chess Classic is a chess festival held at the Olympia, London, Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational chess tournament, tournament between some of the w ...

. His game against former

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Cha ...

at that event was notable for its simultaneous attacks against both castled kings, and for the "exquisite

Zugzwang Zugzwang (German for "compulsion to move", ) is a situation found in chess and other turn-based games wherein one player is put at a disadvantage because of their obligation to make a move; a player is said to be "in zugzwang" when any legal move ...

" to which Hawkins succumbed. Hawkins attained the

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

titles of

FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(FM) in 2008, International Master (IM) in 2010 and Grandmaster (GM) in 2014. His ascent from IM to GM was delayed two years by a lack of results against non-English players. This meant he became one of the highest-rated IMs in the world, outranking the majority of English GMs, and was the first winner of the British Championship since Michael Hennigan in 1993 who had not earned the GM title by the end of the tournament. Hawkins is now a full-time chess player and coach, based in London.

Publications

* From Amateur to IM (2012)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Jonathan 1983 births Living people English chess players Chess grandmasters British chess writers Sportspeople from Consett